Look: Look at the shapes and colors.
Looking at the appearance and color, the top Xinyang Maojian tea is "thin, round, bright, straight and full of white hair", and the color is "green and oily, with white hair exposed".
"Fine, round, smooth and straight" is the appearance characteristic that distinguishes Xinyang Maojian tea from other famous teas. For example, Huangshan Mao Feng is like a sparrow's tongue, and Biluochun curls like a snail. These three kinds of tea are all white, but the appearance is significantly different.
Dry tea
Second kneading: Knead dry tea.
Take a little with your index finger and thumb, and twist the tea with your index finger and thumb to judge the dryness of the tea.
Theoretically, the moisture content in tea will not affect the aroma and taste of tea, but it is the decisive factor affecting the change speed of tea quality.
The standard water content of Xinyang Maojian tea is also the best water content, which should be around 6.5%.
If the water content is too high, tea is prone to slow oxidation reaction, which accelerates the aging of tea and leads to a rapid decline in quality. Moreover, tea leaves are easy to deteriorate, breed bacteria and mold, and are difficult to preserve.
When the water content of tea is too low, the rope is easy to break, the white hair is easy to fall off, and the tea is easy to form a large number of fragments during transportation. In the process of contact with air, it is easy to absorb moisture and other odors in the air, which affects the aroma and taste of tea. Therefore, the water content of Xinyang Maojian tea is either too high or too low, and about 6.5% is the best.
Xinyang Maojian tea with suitable water content should be twisted with fingers, partially crushed and partially twisted. If there is only a small amount of crushing or even no crushing after kneading, it means that the water content is too high; All the twisted powder shows that the water content is too low.
Triple product: tea tasting entrance.
Take a little entrance, moisten the tea with saliva and taste the tea fragrance.
Generally speaking, there are four flavors of tea: astringency, freshness, sweetness and bitterness, which are reflected by different effective components in tea. The four flavors of good tea reach the best balance, which is suitable for most people's taste and taste experience, and can stimulate human comfort during drinking, thus bringing physical and mental pleasure.
But some people have formed their own special preferences in the process of drinking tea for a long time. Some people like bitter tea, while others like fresh and refreshing tea. So you can simply and quickly judge whether the current tea is the kind you like by tasting it directly.
Four smells: smell tea and know the fragrance.
Take a small amount of tea, put it in a tray, put it under your nose, and smell the aroma of dry tea.
The aroma components of tea are very complex, including acids, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, alkenes and other substances, which are collectively called aromatic oils. Aromatic oil is transformed from the aromatic substances in fresh leaves during the process of enzyme fixation and twisting. Therefore, Xinyang Maojian tea, which is "green and oily", is bound to have a pleasant aroma in general.
Some smells in fresh leaves, such as green odor or green gas, have the smell of grass or green leaves, which is a taboo in green tea. Generally speaking, the green odor will be emitted in the process of water fixation, but if the fresh leaves are directly processed without airing or the degree of water fixation is light and the water fixation is not complete, it is easy to carry the green odor.
Titian
The aroma of poor quality dry tea may also have some burnt gas, sour gas and so on. , can be identified with the "three flavors"
Five flushes: brewing tea soup
Tea appraisers have a set of professional equipment and operation methods to identify tea. Various tea ceremonies have their own characteristics and are rarely the same. There are also various opinions and stresses about making tea among the people, which have brought confusion to many people.
The process of making tea is to mix water at a certain temperature with a certain proportion of tea leaves, so that the water-soluble substances in tea leaves can be dissolved in water, forming tea fragrance, tea color and tea taste, and tea drinkers can get pleasure by smelling fragrance, watching color and drinking.
Our view is that you can make tea according to your daily drinking habits, because the purpose of buying tea is to enjoy it, not to cause trouble. Drink tea to realize life, wander around and concentrate on letting go of your thoughts; Friends, talk about tea, focus on emotional communication, the form of tea is not the key, there is no need to make yourself uncomfortable for formal things.
Aside from the formal dogma, you only need to pay attention to three points when making tea:
First, what kind of water is used?
Tap water for drinking in many cities in the north is taken from urban groundwater, and the water quality is hard and alkaline. Water with higher hardness and PH value will deepen the oxidation of tea polyphenols, and make tea soup lighter in color and taste. In the early years, there was a saying that "Xinyang tea can only be brewed with Xinyang water, and Xinyang tea cannot be brewed in other places", which is the truth. Speaking of hard water and weakly alkaline water, Xinyang Maojian tea is not easy to brew, and green tea can't be brewed.
Nowadays, bottled pure water or mineral water is generally used for drinking tea, which is water with low hardness and PH value. Making tea with this kind of water can improve the impression and taste of tea soup. So now it can be said that "Xinyang Maojian tea is not delicate and can go anywhere".
Second, the temperature of water.
The moisture required for tea tasting is 100℃, while the recommended moisture for general green tea packaging is 85℃. Various water temperatures and preheating of tea sets are also circulating among the people.
On the premise of the same water quality and quantity, the temperature determines the volatilization speed of aromatic substances and the dissolution speed of water-soluble substances, which is the key.
Tea tasting requires extracting the best aromatic substances and water-soluble substances in tea as much as possible, that is, using high-temperature water to present the essence of tea at one time. The reason why tasting begins after 5 minutes in 100℃ water is that after 5 minutes, the precipitation of aromatic substances and water-soluble substances approaches the peak, and the proportion of main effective components reaches the best. The evaluation of green tea generally only takes the first sip of tea, and the second and third sips of tea soup are not evaluated, because the second and third sips of tea soup will not exceed the quality of the first sip of tea soup according to the evaluation method.
Folk tea, tea buyers Some people pursue that tea can withstand soaking and think that it is cost-effective to soak a variety of teas. Therefore, tea merchants recommend using 85℃ water to make tea for a reason, and they often suggest that water should be refilled when there is one-third of the tea soup left. Making tea with low-temperature water will slow down the release rate of aromatic substances and water-soluble substances in tea. Keeping more water in the last tea soup will also make the next tea soup more colorful.
Nowadays, drinking tea is usually bottled mineral water with a water dispenser. When the water dispenser is prompted to turn to the heat preservation state after heating, the outlet water temperature is generally between 85℃ and 95℃, and the protection range of different brands and models of thermostats is different, but the temperature of most hot water is between 85℃ and 95℃, which is completely suitable for daily tea making.
Third, the proportion of tea.
The quality ratio of tea to water is required to be 1:50 in tea tasting. When buying tea, the general tea merchants will put a little more tea, so that the tea fragrance, soup color and taste are more intense. In daily life, some people like to drink strong tea, often with more tea, while others like to drink weak tea, often with less tea and different preferences.
When buying tea, if you have the opportunity to make tea, try to drink it. It is recommended to use the proportion you like in daily life. Only in this way can you drink this kind of tea in the future as close as possible to the actual real effect. Otherwise, one feeling when you buy it will be another taste in the future, which will make you uncomfortable.
Finally, in order to watch the tea soup intuitively and conveniently, it is suggested to use a round and straight colorless glass with high temperature resistance, and 150 ml -200 ml is appropriate. The best amount of tea is seven cups, and there is 30% space above to accumulate tea fragrance.
Six views: watching tea soup
After rushing into the cup, you can watch the dynamic of tea rolling up and down, the change of bud leaves gradually stretching, and the process of tea soup color from light to strong.
Some research data show that the content of nutrients in buds is high, and the more tea buds, the better. Sometimes the symmetry of dry tea is formed by kneading and sieving, rather than strict grading of fresh leaves. The buds and leaves of dry tea are often not easy to identify and judge intuitively, but after brewing with tea, the buds and leaves will be "exposed" at a glance. At this time, the proportion of buds and leaves can be visually measured. Through the glass, you can also intuitively observe the symmetry of tea leaves, whether there are impurities in tea stems and so on.
Millet, flour and sugar porridge
Xinyang Maojian tea soup had better be light green and bright. Light green is the color of tea soup, and bright is the transparency of tea soup. If the soup is dark, it is often caused by moisture and other reasons that lead to the aging of tea; How the soup turns yellow or red is often caused by improper treatment of fresh leaves after picking, which leads to slight fermentation, low temperature or insufficient enzyme fixation. The turbidity of soup is often caused by excessive kneading and pressure or bacterial contamination and deterioration. Some tea merchants will interpret the turbid tea soup as too much white hair suspended in the tea soup, which is wrong.
Seven smells: smell the tea.
When you smell tea, you should first hold the cup with your hand and feel the water temperature through the cup, and feel that the temperature is suitable. You can slowly put the cup close to your nose. When the lips touch the mouth of the cup, you can quickly smell it with your nose for two or three times, then remove the cup and exhale the air. Don't spray exhaled air into the cup, so as not to affect the tea fragrance.
It is said that there are more than 50 kinds of aromatic substances in green tea, which is an important source of tea fragrance. Fresh tea leaves contain protein, amino acids, sugar, fat and other substances. In the process of making tea, reactions will also occur, and then unique aroma will be formed, such as ripe chestnut aroma, sweet aroma, caramel aroma and so on. The unique aroma of Xinyang Maojian tea cooked chestnut comes from monosaccharide in tea.
Physiologically, people's sense of smell has a certain inertia. "When you enter abalone, you won't smell it for a long time." For ordinary people, the untrained sense of smell and taste is often not sharp enough, and the judgment of fragrance will be very different or different.
Professional tea evaluation has strict requirements on the health, evaluation equipment, environmental temperature and air quality of tea appraisers.
As the identification of Xinyang Maojian tea in daily life, it usually takes about 3-5 minutes for the tea to brew. At this time, the temperature of tea soup is generally 45℃-55℃, and it is more appropriate to smell the tea fragrance.
If the water temperature is too high, exceeding 60℃, the nose will feel hot and dry because the water vapor temperature is too high, which will affect the sense of smell.
If the water temperature is too low and the aroma volatilizes too much, the smell will be low. In addition, the doped odor may have volatilized and could not be recognized.
The overall feeling of tea fragrance should consider whether it is pure and tasteless, whether it conforms to the fragrance type of this tea, the strength of the fragrance, whether it is fresh or old, and the durability of the fragrance.
Just like buying perfume, whether you like the aroma of this tea is the most important thing.
Eight products: the taste of tea
When tasting tea soup, personal taste sensitivity, temperature, quantity, entrance time and contact position of tongue will all affect the judgment of taste.
Generally speaking, people who smoke and drink regularly will have an impact on taste. It may also inhibit the sensitivity of taste during taking certain drugs. You can rinse your mouth with normal temperature mineral water before drinking tea to improve your taste sensitivity.
The requirement of tea tasting is that the temperature of tea soup is 45℃-55℃. If the temperature is too high, if it exceeds 70℃, it will definitely burn your mouth and tongue, and you won't taste it. If the temperature is too low, the water-soluble substances in the tea soup will dissolve more, the concentration of the tea soup will increase, the astringency will be obviously aggravated, and the taste will not be fresh and round. There are great individual differences in the tolerance of ordinary people to water temperature. If you don't like drinking hot water or hot tea, it is recommended to use the water temperature slightly higher than your daily tea drinking for tea tasting identification.
After all, tea is a drink, and whether it is good or not is the most crucial. In addition to personal subjective preferences, good tea often highlights in various aspects, such as the content of nutrients, the pleasant aroma, the taste comfort of tea soup and so on. Using certain tea tasting methods can help to identify good tea simply and quickly.
When drinking tea, put the cup mouth between the upper and lower lips, slightly open the mouth and tilt the cup slightly, so that the liquid level of tea soup slowly approaches the lips. When it seems to be in contact with the lips, a small amount of tea soup is inhaled through the mouth to suck out the noise, so that the mixed air of tea soup enters the mouth, and the tea soup is scattered in the mouth in a fog, thus enjoying the aroma of tea soup. The amount of tea soup is recessed in the tongue to receive the tea soup without overflowing.